Play recording: Man Who Swallowed a Mountain Lizard, The
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- Teideal (Title): Man Who Swallowed a Mountain Lizard, The.
- Uimhir Chatalóige Ollscoil Washington (University of Washington Catalogue Number): 840122.
- Uimhir Chnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann (National Folklore of Ireland Number): none.
- Uimhir Roud (Roud Number): none.
- Uimhir Laws (Laws Number): none.
- Uimhir Child (Child Number): none.
- Cnuasach (Collection): Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.
- Teanga na Croímhíre (Core-Item Language): English.
- Catagóir (Category): story.
- Ainm an té a thug (Name of Informant): Joe Heaney.
- Ainm an té a thóg (Name of Collector): unavailable.
- Dáta an taifeadta (Recording Date): 07/02/1984.
- Suíomh an taifeadta (Recording Location): University of Washington, United States of America.
- Ocáid an taifeadta (Recording Occasion): evening class.
- Daoine eile a bhí i láthair (Others present): unavailable.
- Stádas chóipcheart an taifeadta (Recording copyright status): unavailable.
There was a prosperous farmer who returned one night from spending the day cutting turf on the bog. He was feeling very poorly, and he was losing weight in spite of eating everything in sight.
Some weeks later, a traveling man of the roads came to the farm – a man who had always been well-treated by the farmer on previous visits – and when he heard that the farmer had fallen asleep the day he was cutting turf, and when he saw the state the farmer was in, he knew immediately what had happened. He had swallowed a mountain lizard (eas luachra), and the lizard was eating all the food while the farmer continued to get thinner.
The man of the roads had a cure for this. He told the farmer’s wife to feed her husband as much salt pork as she could, and then to feed him more, and to add more salt to it. When the farmer was as full of salt pork as possible, the man of the roads took him down to the bank of a stream and told him to kneel there and keep quiet. At length, the lizard made its way to the front of his mouth – getting thirsty – and sat on his tongue, eventually jumping into the water, followed by half-a-dozen others that she had given birth to.